Merrill Kelly is back in the kind of matchup that has given him nothing but trouble for years, and this one arrives with the Dodgers wobbling after a six-game losing streak.
Kelly, who spent last season briefly pitching for another team before returning to the Diamondbacks, has put together what the source describes as his worst season yet, with an ERA above 5.00. That makes Friday night’s meeting between the top two teams in the NL West even more interesting, because Kelly has spent plenty of time seeing the Dodgers at their best - and getting buried by them anyway.
The numbers against Los Angeles are brutal. Since reaching the majors in 2019, Kelly has made 17 starts and thrown 89 innings against the Dodgers, and none of it has produced a win.
His record sits at 0-11. In 2022 alone, he took the loss in all five starts against Los Angeles, even though that season ended with only eight losses total over a 200-inning workload.
His most recent outing against the Dodgers came in an 8-6 loss at the end of the 2024 campaign, a game that didn’t count as one of his 11 decisions even though he gave up six runs, four earned.
A few Dodgers have handled him especially well. Max Muncy, the lone Dodger to face Kelly throughout his entire big-league career, has seen him more than anyone else and has reached base in 22 of 43 plate appearances, with one home run. Mookie Betts, fresh off a four-hit game, has also done damage, going deep against Kelly four times in 35 at-bats.
If Los Angeles produces anything close to its usual output against Kelly, Roki Sasaki may not need a masterpiece to come away with the win.
In Other News...
Dodgers Losing Streak Is Exposing A Problem Fans Cant Ignore
A six-game slide has a way of making even a first-place team look a little more vulnerable, and the Dodgers have spent the past week showing just how quickly things can get messy. Sweeps by the Red Sox and Cubs have highlighted problems on both sides of the ball, with the pitching not shutting the door and the offense not doing enough to cover for it.
Still, this is not a collapse story so much as a reminder of how high the bar is in Los Angeles. The Dodgers remain comfortably ahead in the National League West, and help is on the horizon as several key names work their way back from injury or rehab. Add in the recent arrival of Tarik Skubal, a two-time Cy Young winner, and there is still plenty of reason to think this rough patch may be more of a warning sign than a turning point. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Now Face A Dalton Rushing Decision They Didn't Want
Dalton Rushings breakout path hit a hard stop when the Dodgers placed the rookie catcher on the 10-day injured list with a small tear in his right ulnar collateral ligament. Manager Dave Roberts said it is unlikely Rushing will catch again this season, even though the club could still use him as a pinch hitter, a reminder of how quickly a promising role can shift into damage control in Los Angeles.
Rushing now has to rest for two weeks before the Dodgers determine the next step, and the medical picture already points toward a potentially serious crossroads. He will not throw for four to six weeks, which leaves the organization weighing how much catching value remains this year against the possibility of a much bigger procedure down the line. [Read more 🡒]
Max Muncy Became One Of The Dodgers Best Bets Ever
When Max Muncy arrived in Los Angeles in 2017, he was coming off a release from the Athletics and had even thought about walking away from the game. Instead, the Dodgers took a chance on him, and the move turned into one of the franchises most productive bets of the past decade. Muncy grew from a low-profile pickup into a core lineup piece, helping power three World Series titles and putting his name all over the clubs postseason record book.
Now 35, Muncy is still giving the Dodgers the kind of steady impact that made him so valuable in the first place. His continued success has come with a simple explanation on his end: better health. For a player whose path nearly took him out of the sport entirely, the fact that he is still performing at a high level in 2026 only adds to the sense that Los Angeles found far more than a reclamation project. [Read more 🡒]